Most weapons have iron sight arrangements that are designed solely for use as primary sighting methods, but are not generally designed to also utilize these sights or their attachment points as secondary locating, attaching, or mounting locations or affixing points for additional accessories, or additional types of sighting apparatus.
Most weapons that use iron sights have the iron sights secured to substantial locations on the weapon's major components. These substantial fixing locations are required in order to assure that the sights are securely mounted and to offer substantial protection from inadvertent movement, dislocations, or damage. In addition to the original intended function, it is now recognized that the iron sights offer an additional opportunity for the purposes of utilizing them as a foundation for the location and attachment of additional accessories, equipment, or other sighting apparatus. While not all iron sighting systems known offer these advantages, there are certain common designs that are that are particularly suited to being used in this manner.
In particular, there exist common iron sight designs that incorporate a sliding leaf, sometimes referred to as a “ladder,” or elevating platforms or other similar constructions where they incorporate the salient feature of said leaf or platform being hinged, affixed, or arranged at one end of the sight base with a moveable interface using a point or axis of movement that is combined with an attachment point. The attachment point commonly comprises a pin or axle pivotably nested within a set of holes or slots, and as such offers both a fixed, predetermined positioning point and an attachment point for an accessory mounting device.
Additional exploitable features of such suitable iron sights may include features such as guards, protectors, or other external or internal shapes or projections intended to protect, align, or support the iron sighting components. These features can also be appreciated as being particularly useful or suitable for adapting an accessory device, such as a “rail,” to mechanically interface with these iron sight features in ways and manners never intended by the original design of the iron sights themselves. The arrangement of these physical features of the iron sighting system enables usages beyond their original intended purposes. What is needed is a means to exploit these features of the iron sight for selectively attaching an accessory device to the host weapon without requiring modification of the underlying weapon in any manner.